The Girl King

The Girl King 2015

6.20

A portrait of the brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden, queen from age six, who fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden and who have no tolerance for her awakening sexuality.

2015

L.A. Without a Map

L.A. Without a Map 1999

5.90

An aspiring Hollywood actress, on a visit to a charming North England town, has a brief fling with the town undertaker, who also writes obituaries for the local paper. Returning home, where she works as a waitress at a Japanese restaurant, she tells everyone about the handsome "writer" she met on her trip. Unfortunately, he decides to follow her back to Hollywood, setting up the expected light romantic comedy with asides as the newcomer gains experience about the goings on in Hollywood.

1999

Master Cheng

Master Cheng 2019

7.20

Cheng, 45, a restaurant owner from China, has travelled with his young son halfway around the world to a remote village in Finland. His wife died recently in an accident, and Cheng wanted to have a break from everything by traveling with his son to see an old Finnish friend who lives on a farm in the countryside of Finland. It’s the most remote place Cheng can imagine with endless forests, thousands of lakes, a country with entire population of one-fifth of Cheng’s home town, Shanghai.

2019

Zombie and the Ghost Train

Zombie and the Ghost Train 1991

6.90

Antti "Zombie" Autiomaa does two things well: play the bass guitar and drink. After several months' sleeping on the streets of Istanbul, he returns to Helsinki where he's called into the army but discharged on mental health grounds after adding turpentine to the officers' soup. Zombie lives bleary-eyed in an apartment off his parents' house where his lonely, unemployed father suffers from heart disease. His girl-friend Marjo has taken up with a hairdresser but comes back to Zombie. His friend Harri hires him as a roadie for his band "Harry and the Mulefukkers" then gives him a chance as a bass player. He has his girl and he has a gig, but can Zombie put the bottle down?

1991

Homecoming

Homecoming 2015

4.40

Tiina decides to reconnect with his aged and bohemian father living alone. With her reluctant daughter and new husband, they move in and start to renovate the old house. However, neither the renovation nor facing the past is effortless.

2015

Honey Baby

Honey Baby 2004

6.00

An American, with a past as a successful musician, makes a living by playing at weddings and the likes in Germany. Then he gets an offer to tour in East Europe. During his travels he gets insight and finds true love.

2004

Road North

Road North 2012

6.10

A father who was absent for 30 years of his son's life returns and wants to set on a journey through Finland, so they can learn to know each other again.

2012

Over the Limit

Over the Limit 2018

7.10

Margarita Mamun, an elite Russian rhythmic gymnast, is struggling to become an Olympic champion. It is the most important year of her career and her last chance to achieve the ultimate goal, the gold Olympic medal. The film creates a captivating portrait of a young woman who is desperately trying to handle her own ambitions and meet the expectations of the official Russian training system.

2018

Three Wise Men

Three Wise Men 2008

5.60

Three middle aged men, long time friends, get together in a normally closed Karaoke bar to drink their failed lives away. Secrets are revealed and sometimes discovered and they sing their miseries one by one during Karaoke sessions. The arrival of a lone woman to the bar will facilitate revealing of the final secret.

2008

Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made

Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made 1994

6.90

In 1993, Sam Fuller takes Jim Jarmusch on a trip into Brazil's Mato Grosso, up the River Araguaia to the village of Santa Isabel Do Morro, where 40 years before, Zanuck had sent Fuller to scout a location and write a script for a movie based on a tigrero, a jaguar hunter. Sam hopes to find people who remember him, and he takes film he shot in 1954. He's Rip Van Winkle, and, indeed, a great deal changed in the village. There are televisions, watches, and brick houses. But, the same Karajá culture awaits as well. He gathers the villagers to show his old film footage, and people recognize friends and relatives, thanking Fuller for momentarily bringing them back to life.

1994

The House of Branching Love

The House of Branching Love 2009

5.80

A sort of "Divorce Finnish Style," Mika Kaurismäki's rambunctious comedy, The House of Branching Love , recounts the breakup of a thirty-something professional couple - Juhani, a family therapist, and his wife, Tuula, a successful business trainer.

2009

Mama Africa

Mama Africa 2011

6.40

Miriam Makeba was one of the first African musicians who won international stardom and whose music was always anchored in her traditional South African roots. Miriam Makeba was forced into exile in 1959. She sang for John F. Kennedy, performed with Harry Belafonte and Nina Simone, was married to Hugh Masekela and also Stokely Carmichael. Her life was tumultuous. She always stood for truth and justice. She fought for the oppressed most importantly for black Africans, as a campaigner against apartheid. She died November 2008 after a concert in Italy. Mika Kaurismäki's documentary, traces fifty years of her music and her performing life. Through rare archive footage of her performances and through interviews with her contemporaries we discover the remarkable journey of Miriam Makeba.

2011

Danish Girls Show Everything

Danish Girls Show Everything 1996

5.30

Despite its suggestive title, this multi-part Danish omnibus film is not a work of exploitation. Instead, it presents 20 different short films (back-to-back) on the general theme of Danish women, directed by filmmakers including Krzysztof Zanussi, Monika Treut, Gustav Hamos, David Blair, Vibeke Vogel, Dusan Makavejev, Morten Skallerud and Lars Norgaard. Some dramatic vignettes mix with other comedic ones, but all are offbeat and experimental. The picture includes one animated sequence (by Norgaard).

1996

Gracious Night

Gracious Night 2021

6.70

The three men enjoy the evening at a bar whose fate is threatened by pandemic restrictions. Bartender Heikki offers discussion help to his friend Risto, who works in the first line of healthcare, and who has just finished a difficult shift. The evening gets a new twist when a stranger looking for a mobile phone charger pops in and refuses to leave.

2021

Moro no Brasil

Moro no Brasil 2002

7.50

Mika Kaurismaki's documentary Moro No Brasil features performances by a variety of Brazilian musical artists, intertwined with interviews of every day Brazilians in order to give the viewer a portrait of Brazilian culture. The film includes performances by Silberio Pessoa, Darue Malungo, and Antonio Nobrega. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

2002

Sonic Mirror

Sonic Mirror 2008

6.00

The multi-award-winning Finnish documentarian Mika Kaurismäki, brother of Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past), helms the nonfiction work Sonic Mirror -- a protracted exploration of rhythm as one of life's driving forces. Revered drummer Billy Cobham serves as host, taking the audience on a long musical journey around the world and through a myriad of musical genres and styles. Cobham, Kaurismäki, and co. segue from Western concert halls and stages to the music of African tribes performed by Brazilian street children to the distinct music of autistic patients. Along the way, the filmmakers raise serious questions about the function of music as an identifying force, a means of communication, and an emotional release; they also probe the enduring connections between group awareness and self-awareness. The film ultimately builds to a hugely affirming and cathartic expression of music as collective expression that unifies its performers in spirit.

2008

Condition Red

Condition Red 1995

4.50

Prison guard falls in love with inmate. She wants him to let her escape.

1995

Sambolico

Sambolico 1996

3.50

A short directed by Mika Kaurismäki.

1996

Highway Society

Highway Society 2000

5.80

The mechanic Jack tries to get rid of his criminal background.

2000

Hassisen Kone 40 Years After

Hassisen Kone 40 Years After 2023

7.00

Documentary film about Hassisen Kone. A band that, despite its short age, is still remembered as one of the most iconic Finnish rock bands of all time. The film tells not only about the band's 40th anniversary concert and the preparations for it, but also about the history of the band and its members' growth from youth celebrities to adults.

2023